Louise Round and Rob Connolly gave evidence.

Christina Rees: Q  We will now hear oral evidence from Louise Round of SOLACE and Rob Connolly from Birmingham City Council. We have until 4 pm, so would the witnesses please introduce themselves for the record?

Rob Connolly: I am Rob Connolly. Thank you for inviting me. I am the returning officer for Birmingham City Council, and through my background as a lawyer I have dealt with Birmingham’s election challenges and petitions since 2004—hence the reason I ended up as the returning officer.

Nick Smith: Q  Louise, my sense is that you are pretty sceptical that much voter personation actually occurs. It was interesting to hear Mr Connolly talk about the difficulties that young voters may have in having voter ID easily to hand. My view is that simple systems boost participation and simple messages are key. What measures do you think you will have to use across the UK to inform our diverse communities that they will need voter ID, and what are your concerns?

Jerome Mayhew: Q  Mr Connolly, you were asked a moment ago about disenfranchisement, with specific reference to the first clause in the Bill, on voter ID.  Although the Bill has one clause relating to voter ID, it has five clauses relating to proxy and postal voting. We heard really powerful evidence about that from Mr Mawrey QC this morning. When he was asked his view about disenfranchisement, his evidence, which was absolutely stark, was that it was the Bangladeshi community who had had their votes stolen and harvested and who were overwhelmingly disenfranchised as a result of voter fraud. Would you agree with that expression of opinion?